G'day rich-joy,

I just ran through the listing that Hrothgar ... I think (without mining through the negative files) that I attended - and photographed:

5th, 1971, Adelaide
6th, 1972, Canberra
7th, 1973, Melbourne
9th, 1975, Sydney
10th, 1976, Canberra
13th, 1979, Melbourne
16th, 1982, Sydney
20th, 1986, Melbourne
22nd, 1988, Sydney
24th, 1990, Kuranda
25th, 1991, Adelaide
26th, 1992, Canberra
27th to 40th, 1992ƒn - 2006, Canberra

... a frightening 26 of the 40 National Folk Festivals!

I don't have much in the way of early programs and other ethemera (although I used to have a copy of the 1971 (Adelaide) bumphlet, complete with the "McDonald's" sponsorships "Finger-pickin' good" sloganning!) ... and I was never much one for t-shirts. However, I should be able to turn up prints - and, mostly, film from those I was able to attend.

I did have a display of 10" x 8" (~ 25 x 20 cm) black & white prints ... mostly from the early '70s Nationals (and some NSW Festivals) ... at Canberra in 1999, supporting the "Folk 2000" initiative to promote Australian folk music at the 2000 Olympics. I suspect I should really be looking at organising this material so that a representative collection could be lodged with someone like the National Library of Australia (who have made a few nibbles ... ).

I think we might serve the balanced view of the history of the (Australian) National Folk Festival better by getting a set of individual histories of each National Folk Festival together (while there are still those who remember the events) - combined with photos, such as mine ... and putting them in front of the whole 'folk world' ... via the web.

(Err ... somewhere amidst this ... we all need to keep running our normal lives ... ?)

Regard(les)s,

Bob